Exclusive: Vowles hails ‘new era’ as Atlassian joins Williams Racing
Williams principal James Vowles has hailed a new era for the Formula 1 team after signing a record partnership deal with software giant Atlassian.
The agreement sees the historic outfit rebranded as Atlassian Williams Racing as they step up their efforts to return to the front of the grid in motorsport’s biggest series.
It comes as Williams enters the 2025 season with a new driver line-up following the signing of sought-after Spanish racer Carlos Sainz from Ferrari.
“It is absolutely fantastic that Atlassian has joined our journey but, more importantly, our name from today onwards is Atlassian Williams Racing. So in other words, it’s the start of a new era,” Vowles told City PM.
“In the history of Williams, this is the biggest partnership – and by a long way. It’s a line in the sand that we’ve now crossed, we’ve gone beyond, and it’s the start of what we want to do together.
“Williams is absolutely an icon of Formula 1. We’re transforming all areas in order to get back to the front. And we’ve been looking for what I consider to be a partnership that enables that, that strengthens that, and multiplies that.
“This isn’t about a name change or sticker on the car. This is about finding an organisation that believes in what we are doing, wants to be a part of that, gels with that and brings technology solutions which can be applied to accelerate our progress. And that’s why I’m excited.”
Atlassian ‘fell in love with Williams turnaround’
Atlassian, which provides work management software and has grown to a market cap of more than $80bn, counts Nasa, BMW and Deutsche Bank among its 300,000 other clients.
CEO and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes believes its success as a challenger brand based not in Silicon Valley but Australia can help Williams revive their fortunes in F1.
“Our business is all about connecting technology and business teams to enable those companies to succeed in whatever industry – healthcare, sending rockets to space, financial services or Formula 1 teams, they actually have a lot of common DNA,” said Cannon-Brookes.
“Williams have a storied history of success and at the same time have a real turnaround journey that’s very easy to fall in love with. And I think we can help them on the technology side a huge amount in terms of exactly that.
“The spirit in the team, the courage to attempt such a turnaround is pretty palpable. The more people you speak to – whether that’s Carlos joining, us coming on board, in the engineering or the front of office teams – it’s just an exciting place to be around.
“Everyone’s having a real go and trying to make a real difference. And that’s what we do. We’ve been a challenger from the far side of the planet, we faced silly odds for a long time, and we like those sort of missions, so it seemed like a really good fit.”
‘F1 is getting closer and its better for sport’
The 2025 F1 season promises to be one of the most unpredictable in years, with Red Bull’s vice-like grip weakened and driver moves such as Lewis Hamilton’s to Ferrari blowing the competition wide open.
Beyond this year, new engine regulations and the introduction of new teams – Audi taking over Sauber and Cadillac joining the grid – looks set to shake up the series further.
“We have to be completely blunt. Williams was the one that was probably three seconds off back in 2021/22. And we’re investing serious amounts of money and transforming this business, and that’s why we’re having this conversation today,” said Vowles.
“We are entering a new era, and that comes with the fact that we want to be winning World Championships. But that want and desire, you didn’t have that on the grid before, you had haves and have-nots. I think we’ve changed on that.
“Sauber is turning into Audi. There’ll be an investment in that regard. There is a competitive field that I think will only get closer over the years to come. And for that matter, we’ll be a much better sport for it.
“I think you’ve now got entities like ourselves – what we’re doing is not the same as everyone else on the grid, and I think it will bear some serious fruit, and that’s what makes it interesting for me.”
Williams and F1 ‘a perfect fit’ for Atlassian
Billionaire Cannon-Brookes is a minority investor in the NBA’s Utah Jazz and rugby league team South Sydney Rabbitohs in his homeland but insists Atlassian’s partnership with Williams is a business project rather than a personal one.
“We’re a global organisation. We have 350,000 companies that use our software around the world, almost every single country now on the planet. And so if you’re looking for branding activities, you have to find a global sport,” he said.
“Obviously, F1 is a very fast, growing and exciting sport. It’s had a great run. I think it’s going to continue for a long time. And it lets us talk to customers in lots of different geographies, which is always one of our challenges as a business.
“This is strictly an Atlassian deal, and Atlassian has never really had a sports sponsorship or partnership of anything like this level – not even close.
“And as we were looking at sports that made sense for us, which our customers could get into, and we could really find a team that we could help, there aren’t a lot of sports or sponsorship opportunities for what we do, and this just happens to be a perfect fit.”
Cannon-Brookes is a major investor in green projects through his family office Grok Ventures and climate fund Boundless Earth. With F1 switching to hybrid electric and sustainable fuel engines next year and targeting net zero carbon by 2030, he believes the sport is heading in the right direction.
“As an exemplar of what it takes in automotive or transportation technologies, that’s a big step,” he said.
“Formula 1 itself has some pretty clear goals and we’re pretty confident in our conversations with the Williams team about what they’re trying to do.
“We have incredibly strict science-based targets as an organisation. So we’ve certainly had lots of conversations about that, and it’s all about making sure that everybody’s on the journey for 2030 and 2035 and 2040.”
The launch event for Atlassian Williams Racing’s FW47 will be streamed live on williamsf1.com and the official app from 9:30am GMT on Friday 14 February.